Box Score
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana women’s tennis team completed its 2009 season on Monday, falling 4-1 to Southland Conference rival Stephen F. Austin at the SFA Tennis Complex.
Monday’s match determined the final berth in the Southland Conference Tournament. Stephen F. Austin (6-15, 4-7) will be the tournament’s No. 8 seed and face top-seeded UT Arlington in the first round of the SLC Tournament, which begins Friday in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Southeastern (9-12, 3-7 SLC) will miss the postseason for the first time since 2003. The Lady Lions, which won SLC regular season titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008, as well as SLC Tournament titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, were hampered by the loss of five starters after the 2008 season and playing with five student-athletes for all but one of their SLC matches this spring.
The lone holdover on the 2009 roster from Southeastern’s remarkable championship run was senior
Iva Velkovska, who capped an impressive senior campaign with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over SFA’s Alina Shazhko on Monday. The win allowed her to finish with a 19-2 singles record for the spring. In her four years with Southeasern, Velkovska posted an 81-13 singles mark – good for the second-most career singles victories in school history.
Unfortunately for Southeastern, Velkovska was the only Lady Lion to emerge victorious on Monday. SFA earned the doubles point with an 8-2 win by Shazhko and Roxana Enica over Velkovska and freshman
Audrey Chelini at No. 1, coupled with a default win at No. 3.
In singles play, SFA earned straight set wins at the No. 2 and No. 5 positions, as well as a default victory at No. 6. The singles matches at No. 3 and No. 4 went unfinished once the match was clinched.